Piece Comment

Review of Broadway Revisited


Gershwin in Japanese, German Guys & Dolls, Swedish Jets and Russian Cockneys getting to the church on time... This is the oddest assortment of old Broadway melodies you are likely to find. But what's most surprising is that it doesn't seem to matter in what language the songs are sung - the orchestrations are all so close to the original versions and the songs so well known, you hardly notice a difference. Hearing a song from Hair in five languages is simply hearing the same song five times - very strange indeed! I wish the presenter had a bit more energy, or irony. He seems a bit bored by it all. But half way through, Jacques Brel takes on Man of La Manch and you realize a great singer makes all the difference in any language. This program does prove that even mainstream music stations can Go Global.